Merilou Gonzales, director of the GMC's Talent Dividend Initiative, said the committee already outlined a few specific goals it would like to meet by 2020: to nearly double the number of associate degree holders from 34% currently to 61% and and to increase the number of bachelor's degree holders from 27% to 33%.

And although those marks may seem a bit daunting, Gonzales said she's optimistic about the project.

"We've done environment scans, and we feel pretty confident we can meet the goal," she said.

Of course, Lumina's endowment of more than $1 billion may make the high-reaching objective just a bit easier.

The foundation already invested a lot of its resources into the effort around the country. In 2012 alone, the foundation offered 70 grants to metro areas totaling about $30 million. In this next round of grants — totaling $13 million nationally —Milwaukee is one of 35 cities eligible to receive up to $160,000 through the partnership over the next two and a half years.

Lumina's overall goal is to increase the proportion of Americans with degrees and certificates to 60% by 2025. That means increasing the count of Americans with postsecondary credentials to about 62 million — about23 million higherthan the U.S. is projected to produce by the 2025 mark.

“Increased attainment delivers stronger local economies, greater individual earning power and better quality of life," said Jamie Merisotis, Lumina's president and CEO, in a news release. "Every community in America wants that, and we’ve designed this work to give civic leaders the tools they need to be successful.”

Gonzales said the GMC will be convening by the end of the month to charter specific strategies to achieve its 2020 goals. It will also be pulling together support from an array of local partners yet to be announced.

Mobilizing cities like Milwaukee is the second step in the foundation'seight-part strategyto attain its goal. Other parts of the strategy include working with states and the federal government to increase financial support for higher education.

Other Midwest areas included in the Lumina's second cohort of communities include Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Mich., and the northwest Indiana region.